Chapter 41
Forty-One
After having sex the second time, Marc told me everything that had happened during my seclusion.
The other women and girls had arrived and were settled in.
The teens had school and were closely chaperoned, but the other women were being integrated into the general population.
I took it as a sign that they’d soon be joining the program but didn’t bring it up.
There was no point in dwelling on something I couldn’t change.
Marc left well before dawn, kissing me on the forehead after getting dressed, then slipping silently from the room. I tried to go back to sleep, but I was too happy. Too in love. Too high on life. Which was insane, considering the state of things
Hilary was wearing a strange expression when she arrived the next morning.
“Are you having difficulty sleeping, Miss Murphy?” she asked as she set my breakfast tray on the table.
I thought about Marc being in my bed most of the night, of making love, of talking for hours until he finally slipped from my room. There had been very little sleep, but I wasn’t sure why she was asking. My sleep pattern had been messed up since I got here.
“The usual,” I said elusively.
“It’s just that I noticed you were up most of the night,” Hilary replied.
“What’s more, there were a couple times when your wristband recorded a significant spike in your heart rate.
This has happened a few other times recently, but those were all during your free time, and I just assumed you were working out.
Since it happened in the middle of the night, however, it’s a little concerning. ”
Shit. I hadn’t thought about my heart rate changing during sex or that my wristband would report the anomaly to Hilary, but I should have. It reported everything else to her, after all.
Thankfully, she’d given me the perfect lie.
“I was working out,” I told her. “I know it’s strange to do it in the middle of the night, but when I can’t sleep, I feel like it helps.”
Hilary’s frown deepened. “I imagine that would wake you up more, but since you know what’s best for your body, I’ll let it go. Although, if you continue the practice after getting pregnant, I will want to talk to the doctor about it. Just to make sure it’s not going to cause the fetus any stress.”
Because the fetus was the most important thing.
“I’ll try not to overdo it,” I assured her.
“Good, good.” Hilary was already moving to the door. “I’ll see you at lunchtime, Miss Murphy.”
The rest of my confinement was relatively uneventful.
Hilary brought my meals, she talked at me while I ignored her, then left me alone.
As predicted, she took the paper and pen as soon as she realized she’d left it, but it didn’t matter.
I’d already put my thoughts to paper, and there was nothing she could do to change that.
Marc came to my room in the middle of the night, left again before dawn, and the next morning, I was allowed to return to the general population. I was thrilled, and not just because I’d been bored out of my mind in my room, but because I was excited to check on Bette and Warren.
Her room was the first place I headed. I knocked, waited, looked around. It was morning, and people were heading to breakfast and the hall was filled with women. Some pregnant, some not. Some smiling, some looking like they were heading to a firing squad. All of them, though, prisoners.
God, I hated this place.
The lock clicked and I turned, smiling in anticipation. It melted away when the door opened and an unfamiliar twentyish woman with short, brown hair came into view.
“Can I help you?” she asked before I could get over my shock.
I looked past her, took in the lack of baby items in the room, and shook my head. What the hell was going on?
“Where’s Bette?” I asked when I was once again looking at the stranger.
“I don’t know who that is.”
“She’s my friend. This is her room. She just had a baby.”
“Sorry,” the woman said, giving a little shrug. “I just got here two days ago and was assigned this room. It was empty.”
Empty? Meaning Bette was gone. But to where? Home? No way. No way would these people let her go home and potentially expose both her and her newborn baby to the virus. But what was the other explanation? What could have happened to her?
“Are you okay?” the woman asked.
I took a step back, shaking my head, unable to form words. I had to find out what happened to Bette. I had to know.
I turned on my heel and took off running.
I made it to the second floor in less than a minute, and when I reached room 217, I pounded my fist against the door. Hilary yanked it open a few seconds later, looking irritated. Her expression grew doubly exasperated when she saw me.
“Where’s Bette?” I asked before she could say anything.
Hilary crossed her arms. “She left.”
Could this woman be any vaguer?
“Where did she go?” I demanded. “Is she okay?”
“Honestly, Miss Murphy,” my minder gave an exaggerated sigh, “I would think that by now you would have accepted that the Department of Fertility is doing everything to ensure fertile women are kept safe.”
“That isn’t an answer,” I snarled. “Where is she?”
“She and her baby were moved to a secure government neighborhood where they’ll be protected from the virus and taken care of.” Hilary shrugged like this was no big deal. “It’s the best option now that she’s given birth.”
I knew she wouldn’t be allowed to go home, but a government neighborhood? Had she been given a choice? Probably not. What about her husband?
“Is her husband with her?”
Hilary sniffed and made a point of staring at her nails when she said, “Not that it’s any of your business, but the Department of Fertility is working on reuniting families once they can ensure no one is infected.
There will, of course, be a quarantine period, but if all goes well, her husband will be allowed to join her. ”
That was a relief, assuming it was true. Although I wasn’t sure if I believed it.
When I said nothing, Hilary lifted her brows. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“No,” I automatically replied.
“Then I suggest you head to breakfast, Miss Murphy. And do remember to behave yourself. We don’t want a repeat of the other day, do we?”
I didn’t respond before turning but had only taken one step when I stopped and looked back at Hilary. “Can you tell her I asked about her? Tell her I hope she’s okay and I’ll miss her.”
My minder rolled her eyes. “She’s fine, Miss Murphy. I already told you that.”
“But can you tell her I asked?” I said, allowing a pleading note to bleed into the words.
“Fine,” Hilary said, sounding so put out you’d think I’d asked for her firstborn child. “Now run along to breakfast.”
I obeyed despite the condescending words.
Vic was once again absent during my work shift, but I didn’t bother asking about it. There was no point both because I had a good idea what had happened and because Jane wouldn’t tell me anything. Part of her job was to ensure that we were kept in the dark.
Life went back to normal. Or as normal as it could get in this place.
I ate, worked, attended meetings, did my best to kill time when there was nothing scheduled, and saw Marc as much as possible.
Most nights, he came to my room, but there were times when he couldn’t pull it off.
During the day, we found stolen moments when no one was watching.
Looks across the room, notes passed, quiet conversations, even a quickie in a closet.
My life revolved around him and his around me.
Everything we did was so we could see one another, and every moment we weren’t together, I thought about when I would be with him again.
Thirteen days after my period, I got the dreaded news that I was once again fertile.
Standing in the middle of the room as the chime went off, I thought about the night before when Marc had slipped into my bed.
We’d made love just like we had earlier in the day when he’d pulled me into a closet, and the night before when he’d come to my room.
We’d only missed two days since we started sleeping together, a fact that had my mind spinning.
In just a while, the doctor would inseminate me with a stranger’s sperm, but Marc’s had been there first, and he would no doubt add more to the mix tonight.
How would I feel if I found out I was pregnant? I didn’t know. Couldn’t think about it. Not now, anyway. Now I just had to grit my teeth and get through the next part. It was all I could do.
The process was a repeat of the last time I was fertile.
Hilary met me outside the clinic, led me to a room where I undressed from the waist down, the doctor did a quick pelvic ultrasound to make sure I was ready, then performed the procedure.
Marc was the only thing missing from the equation since he wasn’t at the desk, which I was okay with because I wanted time to process it all before seeing him.
Not that I had much time since he was on the other side of the room when I arrived for breakfast. I was later than usual, and he had to suspect why. He also had to be thinking the same thing I was.
We hadn’t talked about it. At least not in detail. I was pretty sure we were both afraid to acknowledge what could happen, both afraid the other would put a stop to things if we thought about it too hard.
Being that it was group day – not that we had much of a group anymore since it was just Ivy, Malika, and me – I had less free time and wasn’t able to find even a few seconds to talk to Marc during the day. That night, though, he came to my room as usual.
I was awake and waiting for him when he slipped into the room, undressed, and slid into bed, pulling me close.
His skin was warm and his scent familiar, and his mouth found mine in the darkness without issue.
The kisses were gentle but hesitant, and even before he pulled away, I knew the inevitable conversation was coming.
“It happened?” he asked.